We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Lubbs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I’m so so much happier working as a creative. Life is definitely more unpredictable, but I’ve learned that it’s far more important to me to work doing something that matters to me and accommodates my needs than to force myself to slog through a regular job just for predictability. I do have “day job” work in addition to my creative work, but all of it is under my self-employment rather than a regular job. I’ve been self employed for about 10 years now, and I haven’t seriously questioned whether I should try for a regular job since. When I first jumped into self-employment, I was a couple years out of college with an Archaeology degree, a passion for art, and job hunting in a market with almost no opportunities. I was really struggling to find my footing and decide on a direction to take, so I ended up having a pretty quick succession of wildly differing jobs trying to find anything that would work out. Unable to find a job in my field, and after a job with animals, a job at a craft store, a job sewing for a canvas shop, a job at a bakery, and three different flavors of delivery driving, it became abundantly clear to me that everything available through traditional means was making me miserable and was leaving me with zero energy to be creative. It felt like I had exhausted all of the options that were available to me, except for scrounging up my own work while pursuing my art. And so I took my first steps into self employment and committing to my creative work. They were not confident or graceful steps, but after a couple years of managing to make it work, I decided that there was no way I would go back to having a regular job. In hindsight, I’m really grateful that nothing else worked out (as frustrating as it was at the time) because it gave me the kick I needed to start down the creative path.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been doing beadwork for almost 20 years and I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember. Working with my hands and creating art has always fallen somewhere between passion and compulsion for me. I’ve always been drawn to the personal and powerful nature of wearable art like jewelry and clothes, in particular those that incorporate meaningful materials and objects. Even as a kid, I was always trying to find ways to adorn myself with the little pieces of the world that felt powerful to me. The ability of objects to connect us to each other, our memories, our identities, and the world around us is my driving inspiration. Creating wearable art is my way of honoring and celebrating those connections. In particular, working with found objects and bones gives me the opportunity to showcase the beauty that can be found in small, ordinary intricacies of life. I try to create a little home for each of these beautiful, forgotten objects where they can be showcased among beads, stones, pearls and shells. That spark of connection and familiarity you feel when an object or piece of jewelry calls your name and asks to be a part of your life is what I strive for. Doing custom pieces for people is one of my favorite things to do. I love it when someone comes to me with a special object to use or an idea in mind, and then translating that into a physical creation for them to carry with them. It’s so rewarding getting to know a person, understanding why an object or idea is powerful to them, and problem-solving those elements into a piece of wearable art.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson that I’ve had to unlearn (and am still unlearning) is that my art requires or deserves something that I can’t give. This unchecked assumption has been one of the biggest obstacles that I’ve put in my own way, and I’ve experienced so much artistic growth since I’ve started trying to unlearn it. For years I collected bones and had tons of ideas for pieces to make with them, but I always pulled away from it, assuming that my artistry was inherently lacking and that I didn’t deserve to use these precious materials because I wouldn’t do them justice. Once I started questioning that and started actually working with bones, I felt like I was exploring a whole new level to my own art. The growth and inspiration I’ve experienced in this relatively short time, makes me really excited to keep looking for other ways that the assumption of “I’m not good enough for my art” has been hiding in my thinking.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I highly recommend the book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland. It took me a really long time and lots of work to reconcile my lifelong relationship between fear (which wants to keep me safe) and my deep need to make art (which is inherently vulnerable), and this book was a huge help. It strikes a powerful balance between philosophical discussion and practical advice which makes it easy to understand and easy to apply to your own practices and mindset. I find it really grounded, compassionate, to-the-point, and heartening, so I highly recommend it to any artist or creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: AmyLubbsWearables.com
• Instagram: @AmyLubbsWearables
• Other: [email protected]